Lawrence (of Arabia); Kennedy isn't simply the first political Elvis--he's also a real-life Dean Moriarty (thus enabling the humorous chapter title "Hit the Road, Jack") and Andy Warhol with better hair.

The narrative traces the seemingly non-stop road-trips made by the two main characters, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, between New York, Denver, San Francisco and back again, and explores the deepening friendship that develops as they follow the pull of the road, breaking societal constraints along the way.

His photographer friend Ken Miller appears in many of them - Dean Moriarty to Vollmann's Sal Paradise - as does the mournful Elaine Suicide, the focus (heroine is hardly the word) of the two longest and best stories in the collection, "The Ghost of Magnetism" and "The Handcuff Manual.

Director Walter Salles spent years developing the film, which also stars Garrett Hedlund as beat generation free spirit Dean Moriarty and Kirsten Dunst, who appears in just four scenes as Dean's wife, Camille.

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